IMMEDIATELY after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the impeachment complaint, President Arroyo’s critics called for street protests and other mass actions aimed at taking her down at all costs. Unlike the aftermath of non-opening of the second envelope during the Estrada impeachment trial, there has been no spontaneous outpouring of outrage and no swelling of mass support for efforts to oust her.
Businessmen have appealed to her detractors to cease their protests as these continue to adversely affect the economy. Indeed, investors just want all the political noise to quiet down so that economic initiatives can be pursued.
Ordinary citizens just want to get on with their lives. This is not to say that they are apathetic. They merely have realized, and rightly so, that any real change will only come from buckling down to work. As President Gloria herself has said, we must immediately get back to work-not in the streets but in our offices and industrial centers, in our farms and communities.
Those who have a thousand and one negative things to say about President Gloria and her administration must hold up a mirror to themselves and ask what are the positive and productive things they are doing to effect change. Marching in the streets and shouting angry slogans do not count. Neither do plotting and politicking.
Many readers of this column have written or commented when they see me in person that they no longer read newspapers or watch newscasts because they are sick and tired of the negative stories in the media. There are undoubtedly many positive stories but these appear to be glossed over because: (a) they don’t sell; (b) keeping the negative stories burning is part of a larger, more sinister agenda; (c) people have forgotten to see the good and are fixated on the bad; or (d) all of the above.
Many of our countrymen have expressed despair over the many problems we face and the seeming absence of light at the end of the tunnel. My challenge to them is to stop whining, cursing, and complaining, as all these only serve to reinforce the misconception that our situation is utterly hopeless and that the only solution is a change in leadership.
As a rejoinder to the thought-provoking "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country" (by Alexander Ledesma Lacson) that I mentioned in a previous column, one of which is speaking positively of our nation and our race, we must call to mind all there is to love and admire about our country and our fellow Filipinos. Surely, there are more things that are uplifting and inspiring, than are despicable and abhorrent, about our country and people. The sooner we snap out of our "kawawa naman tayo, walang nang pagasa" mode, the better.
The developed countries that we admire did not get to where they are because things were handed to them on a silver platter by their leaders. Those countries were built painstakingly from the ground up by the collective efforts of their citizens — that is why the journey to progress is called nationbuilding.
President Gloria has expressed her wish to leave for her trip to the United Nations "with the clear message that the Philippines is one and united, and that we have stability at home and deserve the respect of the world". Whichever side of the political fence we may be, we owe it to our country and our children to end the negative attitudes and behavior that continue to destroy us.
